It did rain – heavily – this lunchtime but, since we were running a bit late and the cloudburst was over by the time we got in, we took a chance and went ahead with our plans for a BBQ. It turned out to be a good call. There were a few specks of rain later but nothing that would have caused us to run for cover.

It also gave me a chance to try out the chimney starter we got the other day. I’ve been eyeing up one of these devices for a while and was toying with ideas of how to construct a home made one to test. Then Jane spotted one by someone’s front garden bin, knocked on the door to ask and we got one for free! You load the starter up with a bit of newspaper and your coals and the air draw of the chimney and their close proximity helps get the coals properly heated before you put them under your grill. It worked pretty well once we finally got it off to a decent start although I have to admit that a butane blowtorch was part of that as matches and lighters kept blowing out in the wind!

Anyway, it was our best success yet with the cheap kettle BBQ – having given up on the inner layers and drilled some holes in the bottom, we finally had a decent depth of coal and using the chimney to pre-heat the coals was also a boon. Here’s hoping for some more BBQ sunny days!